Rajkowski column: SJU's Tillman primed for return

COLLEGEVILLE – It was just about a year ago when Sean Tillman's plans were thrown off-track.

After a promising junior season in which the St. John's defensive end saw action in eight games and started one, Tillman was expected to make a strong push to join the starting lineup on a full-time basis in 2013.

But those hopes were dashed when he suffered a Grade 3 ankle sprain as he tried to avoid being picked off at first base while playing amateur baseball as a member of the Sartell Stone Poneys last summer.

And when practice got underway in August, the 2010 Sartell High School graduate was watching from the sidelines on crutches.

"The toughest part was not being able to be out there with my senior buddies for our last year together," Tillman said. "That was really disappointing. I was looking forward to last season because of the way I'd played the year before and because it was the first year with Gary (Fasching) as head coach. It was a new regime and there was a chance to be part of that at the start.

"So it was hard."

Tillman's injury did eventually heal to the point that he was able to return for one game — a 24-14 home loss to Concordia in week four.

But after making just one tackle in limited action, he said he retweaked his ankle in practice the following week. And that sealed his decision to hang up the pads for the year and pursue a medical redshirt.

That application was granted, giving him one more year of eligibility this fall.

"Originally, I wanted to wait it out and see if I could come back," Tillman said. "But it just didn't work out that way. And after talking to the coaches, we all agreed that there was no way I'd be able to return and play up to my full potential. So it made sense to focus on getting healthy and give it another shot this season."

Fasching said losing Tillman a year ago was a big blow to the team's defense.

"Looking back at the spring after his junior year when we had those extra practices because we made the trip up to Canada, we really felt like he was our best defensive lineman," Fasching said. "So not having him last season hurt up front. It gave some other guys the opportunity to play. But you always want your best players on the field. And not having him there was tough."

Among the players who stepped up in Tillman's absence were then-juniors Matt Workman and Ben Rossini. Workman finished with 50 tackles, including 10.5 for a loss and a team-best five sacks. Rossini ended the year with 48 tackles, including 3.5 for a loss. Both return this fall. But Fasching said there is room enough for everyone in the team's rotation.

"The good thing is that we've always tried to rotate about six or seven guys in all those spots up front," Fasching said. "So we need to find six or seven players who can all be difference makers and we definitely expect Sean will be one of those guys.

"He's going to be one of the people we call upon to be a leader on our defense — not just up front, but for the defense as whole. Our past experiences with fifth-year guys has been that they usually have great years and become our best leaders. So we will certainly be looking to Sean to fill that role."

And Tillman said he enters this season completely healthy.

"I finally started feeling 100 percent again late last winter and everything has gone smoothly since then," said Tillman, who took the second semester off and did not take part in the team's workouts this past spring. "Now I'm just working hard these last couple of weeks to get ready to get back out there."

As part of his preparation, Tillman elected to sit this amateur baseball season out.

"I just didn't want to risk anything happening," Tillman said. "It was kind of tough. But my coach (with the Stone Poneys) understood completely. I told him that if I was still in the area next summer, I'd be back. But I didn't want to take any chances this year."

Instead, his sole focus has been on getting ready for one final season of college football.

"It's crazy how time has flown by so fast," said Tillman, whose team reports to Collegeville on Aug. 13 and opens practice the following day. "I can't believe it's almost here. I've been waiting for this opportunity a long time. I'm getting a little antsy. But it's coming up quickly now and I'm ready for it."

This is the opinion of Times sports writer Frank Rajkowski. Contact him at 255-8772 or at frajkowski@stcloudtimes.com. Read his blog at www.sctimes.com or follow him on Twitter at @rajko1973.